That is one long year of moviegoing with not a lot to show for it. 20
new releases with only three unqualified financial successes, and one
more so-so. More embarrassingly, one movie remake was released (Around
the World in 80 Days) that was outperformed financially by the original
release back in 1956, which brought in about $42 million. It is quite
possible that the other remake (The Alamo) suffered a similar fate,
but I could not find numbers for the box office on the 1960 John Wayne
version.

Tom Hanks (The Ladykillers) stumbled as a leading man this year
(and not just for Disney) while Kate Hudson (Raising Helen), Clive
Owen (King Arthur), and Bernie Mac (Mr. 3000) failed to
established leading-role credentials. Feature animation went out with
a whimper rather than a defiant bang (for the life of me, I already can't
remember half of Home on the Range).

Looking to the positive, though, what were the best Disney movies of
the year? I'll just pick five (and Teacher's Pet is out of the
running since I don't know anyone who even saw it) and am pleased to see
that it doesn't just match the box office resultsindicating to me,
at least, that it wasn't all Disney's fault; sometimes a movie was unjustly
a failure (the opposite of National Treasure, which is unjustly
a success).

5. America's Heart and Soul

This documentary from Louis Schwartzberg was overlooked as a piece of
Fourth of July schmaltz. To a degree it is, but the title and release
date hampered its response. Simply a series of unconnected personal vignettes,
it does cluster around unique demonstrations of creativity. This is not
the celebration of nationalism the title might imply, but rather the celebration
of people.

4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

A certain portion of the audience is going to absolutely love this movie,
while most will shrug their shoulders and move on to the next thing. If
The Life Aquatic is a failure, though, it is a noble failure. Noblility
of failure is something Disney releases saw too little of this year, so
often instead failing through rote repetition of things that barely worked
the last half-dozen times they were tried (such as Mr. 3000). For
me it succeeds more than not, and I hope it'll improve more after seeing
it a couple times. I recently read of star Bill Murray agreeing with my
review (well, not with it, but with the sentiment) that it took him three
times before he really got it.

3. The Alamo

I stuck my neck out on this one. In a rare instance of critical and popular
alignment, everybody pretty much pinched their noses at this one. I still
maintain, though, that it is well made, well acted, and well adapted to
a more modern mindset than the John Wayne version. The Alamo is available
on DVD, and if you haven't, I strongly urge you to reconsider it.

2. Miracle

If our national attention span weren't so deficient, about now you'd
be hearing at least talk of Kurt Russell getting an Academy Award nomination
for this performance. Admittedly, there have been many stellar performances
this year and he may not be in the top five, but if the world were fair
he'd at least be mentioned. Russell's Coach Herb Brooks is the only true
individual in the movie, characters are not so important and a spare style
captures the mood of the country in 1980 without necessarily reviving
it in the audience.

1. The Incredibles

As I said in my original review, I don't know that this is one of the
best animated films of all time, but it is definitely one of the best
superhero films of all time. Three times in a row now, I have seen the
early press on a Pixar film and thought, There is no way I'm going
to like this, and three times in a row I have been made a fool.
A sure-thing winner of the Best Animated Feature Academy Awardreally,
the only reason the Academy might flirt with Shrek 2 is because
of its jaw-dropping box office numbersit doesn't need me to keep
hyping it. Go see it in the theaters again, though, before it is forever
relegated to the less-impressive small screen.

Finally, what's up for next year? The big attraction (Cars) has
already slipped into 2006, leaving us with only Chicken Little
in the arena of feature animation. Beyond that, the picture is murky.
In January, Aliens of the Deep will be James Cameron's latest IMAX
movie. February brings Pooh's Heffalump Movie.

In March, you'll be able to choose between a fish-out-of-water movie
in The Pacifier (Vin Diesel as special ops agent playing dad) or
a fish-finding-her-water movie in Ice Princess (social misfit teenager
finding self and acceptance through ice skating). Certain people will
be looking forward to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in May,
though I am not one of them.

Regardless, it has been a fun 2004 and I'm looking forward to trashing
the worst (shoot, forgot to put in a section where I once again tell you
just how bad Hidalgo was) and praising the best of 2005.

Alex Stroup is a degreed librarian with an undergraduate degree in history. An avid reader, movie buff, and devoted information junkie, Alex currently lives and works in the Northern California Bay Area. Alex is also the CEO of MousePlanet.

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